OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON--REPLY
TO THE OBJECTIONS.
Several objections may be raised against the obsessions and
possessions of demons; nothing is subject to greater difficulties than
this matter, but Providence constantly and uniformly permits the
clearest and most certain truths of religion to remain enveloped in
some degree of obscurity; that facts the best averred and the most
indubitable should be subject to doubts and contradictions; that the
most evident miracles should be disputed by some incredulous persons
on account of circumstances which appear to them doubtful and
disputable.
All religion has its lights and shadows; God has permitted it to be so
in order that the just may have somewhat to exercise their faith in
believing, and the impious and incredulous persist in their wilful
impiety and incredulity. The greatest mysteries of Christianity are to
the one subjects of scandal, and to the others means of salvation;
the one regarding the mystery of the cross as folly, and the others as
the work of sublimest wisdom, and of the most admirable power of God.
Pharaoh hardened his heart when he saw the wonders wrought by Moses;
but the magicians of Egypt were at last obliged to recognize in them
the hand of God. The Hebrews on sight of these wonders take confidence
in Moses and Aaron, and yield themselves to their guidance, without
fearing the dangers to which they may be exposed.
We have already remarked that the demon often seems to act against his
own interest, and destroy his own empire, by saying that everything
which is related of the return of spirits, the obsessions and
possessions of the demon, of spells, magic, and sorcery, are only
tales wherewith to frighten children; that they all have no existence
except in weak and prejudiced minds. How can it serve the demon to
maintain this, and destroy the general opinion of nations on all these
things? If in all there is only falsehood and illusion, what does he
gain by undeceiving people? and if there is any truth in them, why
decry his own work, and take away the credit of his subordinates and
his own operations?
Jesus Christ in the Gospel refutes those who said that he expelled
devils in the name of Beelzebub;[260] he maintains that the accusation
is unfounded, because it was incredible that Satan should destroy his
own work and his own empire. The reasoning is doubtless solid and
conclusive, above all to the Jews, who thought that Jesus Christ did
not differ from other exorcists who expelled demons, unless it was
that he commanded the prince of devils, while the others commanded
only the subaltern demons. Now, on this supposition, the prince of the
demons could not expel his subalterns without destroying his own
empire, without decrying himself, and without ruining the reputation
of those who only acted by his orders.
It may be objected to this argument, that Jesus Christ supposed, as
did the Jews, that the demons whom he expelled really possessed those
whom he cured, in whatever manner he might cure them; and consequently
that the empire of the demons subsisted, both in Beelzebub, the prince
of the demons, and in the other demons who were subordinate to him,
and who obeyed his orders; thus, his empire was not entirely
destroyed, supposing that Jesus Christ expelled them in the name of
Beelzebub; that subordination, on the contrary, supposed that power or
empire of the prince of the demons, and strengthened it.
But Jesus Christ not only expelled demons by his own authority,
without ever making mention of Beelzebub; he expelled them in spite of
themselves, and sometimes they loudly complained that he was come to
torment them before the time.[261] There was neither collusion between
him and them, nor subordination similar to that which might be
supposed to exist between Beelzebub and the other demons.
The Lord pursued them, not only in expelling them from bodies, but
also in overthrowing their bad maxims, by establishing doctrines and
maxims quite contrary to their own; he made war upon every vice,
error, and falsehood; he attacked the demon face to face, everywhere,
unflinchingly; thus, it cannot be said that he spared him, or was in
collusion with him. If the devil will sometimes pass off as chimeras
and illusions all that is said of apparitions, obsessions and
possessions, magic and sorcery; and if he appears so absolutely to
overthrow his reign, even so far as to deny the most marked and
palpable effects of his own power and presence, and impute them to the
weakness of mind of men and their foolish prejudices; in all this he
can only gain advantage for himself: for, if he can persuade people of
the truth of what he advances, his power will only be more solidly
confirmed by it, since it will no longer be attacked, and he will be
left to enjoy his conquests in peace, and the ecclesiastical and
secular powers interested in repressing the effects of his malice and
cruelty will no longer take the trouble to make war upon him, and
caution or put the nations on their guard against his stratagems and
ambuscades. It will close the mouth of parliaments, and stay the hand
of judges and powers; and the simple people will become the sport of
the demon, who will not cease continuing to tempt, persecute, corrupt,
deceive, and cause the perdition of those who shall no longer mistrust
his snares and his malice. The world will relapse into the same state
as when under paganism, given up to error, to the most shameful
passions, and will even deny or doubt those truths which shall be the
best attested, and the most necessary to our salvation.
Moses in the Old Testament well foresaw that the evil spirit would set
every spring to work, to lead the Israelites into error and unruly
conduct; he foresaw that in the midst of the chosen people he would
instigate seducers, who would predict to them the hidden future, which
predictions would come true and be followed up. He always forbids
their listening to any prophet or diviners who wished to mislead them
to impiety or idolatry.
Tertullian, speaking of the delusions performed by demons, and the
foresight they have of certain events, says,[262] that being spiritual
in their nature, they find themselves in a moment in any place they
may wish, and announce at a distance what they have seen and heard.
All this is attributed to the Divinity, because neither the cause nor
the manner is known; often, also, they boast of causing events, which
they do but announce; and it is true that often they are themselves
the authors of the evils they predict, but never of any good.
Sometimes they make use of the knowledge they have derived from the
predictions of the prophets respecting the designs of God, and they
utter them as coming from themselves. As they are spread abroad in the
air, they see in the clouds what must happen, and thus foretell the
rain which they were aware of before it had been felt upon earth. As
to maladies, if they cure them, it is because they have occasioned
them; they prescribe remedies which produce effect, and it is believed
that they have cured maladies simply because they have not continued
them. _Quia desinunt laedere, curasse credentur._
The demon can then foresee the future and what is hidden, and discover
them by means of his votaries; he can also doubtlessly do wonderful
things which surpass the usual and known powers of nature; but it is
never done except to deceive us, and lead us into disorder and
impiety. And even should he wear the semblance of leading to virtue
and practising those things which are praiseworthy and useful to
salvation, it would only be to win the confidence of such as would
listen to his suggestions, to make them afterward fall into
misfortune, and engage them in some sin of presumption or vanity: for
as he is a spirit of malice and lies, it little imports to him by what
means he surprises us, and establishes his reign among us.
But he is very far from always foreseeing the future, or succeeding
always in misleading us; God has set bounds to his malice. He often
deceives himself, and often makes use of disguise and perversion, that
he may not appear to be ignorant of what he is ignorant of, or he will
appear unwilling to do what God will not allow him to do; his power is
always bounded, and his knowledge limited. Often, also, he will
mislead and deceive through malice, because he is the father of
falsehood. He deceives men, and rejoices when he sees them doing
wrong; but not to lose his credit amongst those who consult him
directly or indirectly, he lays the fault on those who undertake to
interpret his words, or the equivocal signs which he has given. For
instance, if he is consulted whether to begin an enterprise, or give
battle, or set off on a journey, if the thing succeeds, he takes all
the glory and merit to himself; if it does not succeed, he imputes it
to the men who have not well understood the sense of his oracle, or to
the aruspices, who have made mistakes in consulting the entrails of
the immolated animals, or the flight of birds, &c.
We must not, then, be surprised to find so many contradictions,
doubts, and difficulties, in the matter of apparitions, angels,
demons, and spirits. Man naturally loves to distinguish himself from
the common herd, and rise above the opinions of the people; it is a
sort of fashion not to suffer one's self to be drawn along by the
torrent, and to desire to sound and examine everything. We know that
there is an infinity of prejudices, errors, vulgar opinions, false
miracles, illusions, and seductions in the world; we know that many
things are attributed to the devil which are purely natural, or that a
thousand apocryphal stories are related. It is then right to hold
one's self on one's guard, in order not to be deceived. It is very
important for religion to distinguish between true and false miracles,
certain or uncertain events, and works wrought by the hand of God,
from those which are the work of the seducing spirit.
In all that he does, the demon mixes up a great many illusions amid
some truths, in order that the difficulty of discerning the true from
the false may make mankind take the side which pleases them most, and
that the incredulous may always have some points to maintain them in
their incredulity. Although the apparitions of spirits, angels, and
demons, and their operations, may not, perhaps, always be miraculous,
nevertheless, as the greater part appear above the common course of
nature, many of the persons of whom we have just spoken, without
giving themselves the trouble to examine the things, and seek for the
causes of them, the authors, and the circumstances, boldly take upon
themselves to deny them all. It is the shortest way, but neither the
most sensible nor the most rational; for in what is said on this
subject, there are effects which can be reasonably attributed to the
Almighty power of God alone, who acts immediately, or makes secondary
causes act to his glory, for the advancement of religion, and the
manifestation of the truth; and other effects there are, which bear
visibly the character of illusion, impiety, and seduction, and in
which it would seem that, instead of the finger of God, we can observe
only the marks of the spirit of deceit and falsehood.
Footnotes:
[260] Matt. xii. 24-27. Luke xi. 15-18.
[261] Matt. viii. 29.
[262] Tertullian does not say so much in the passage cited; on the
contrary, he affirms that we are ignorant of their nature: _substantia
ignoratur_.